1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates in general to a harvester, and more particularly, to a shaped conveyor system for a harvester that is particularly useful for picking of blueberries and the like. The conveyor and the harvester with which it is utilized is not limited to use in association with the picking of blueberries, or any fruit in particular, and the use in association with the picking of blueberries should be deemed exemplary and not limiting the use thereto.
2. Background Art
The harvesting of blueberries is well known in the art. Typically, mechanized equipment in the form of a blueberry harvester proceeds from blueberry plant to blueberry plant dislodging the blueberries onto conveyors which can then collect the blueberries and discharge them into baskets, boxes or the like. Mechanization has greatly increased the speed at which blueberries can be harvested and has also greatly reduced the labor required.
While advances have been made, there have been problems with such equipment. For example, such equipment may be well suited for picking blueberries that will be sold as frozen product. However, such equipment is typically not well suited for picking blueberries for packaging as fresh in retail packaging. Generally, the currently available mechanized equipment tends to damage a large portion of the blueberries during picking, and such damaged blueberries are typically not sellable as fresh in retail packaging. Thus, even where mechanization is utilized, hand picking continues to be the manner in which blueberries are harvested for packaging as fresh in retail packaging, as current picking equipment cannot achieve consistent product that is free of excessive damage, such as bruises, cuts, scuffs, and breaks, among other deformities.
One such advancement is shown in co-pending application cited above, namely, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/042,428. It is further desirable to have less impact on the plants as the plants exit from the harvester. For example, while it is desirable to raise the level of the conveyors utilized to transport the berries upwardly so as to be able to easily discharge into a container (for example, a container that is positioned on the harvester), such conveyors can interfere with and damage the plants that have been processed through the harvester.